I have, as you will doubtless be aware if you have read anything at all in this blog, travelled round much of the world. I've been everywhere from Argentina to Zambia. When I've travelled I haven't always seen the countries from the window of a bus or eaten fish and chips or club sandwiches delivered* to my table by room service. I've hiked and camped, used local buses and trains. I've eaten in every conceivable kind of establishment and every conceivable kind of food including ducks feet, beaks and tongues.
Nor have I restricted my conversation to chats with tour guides and shopkeepers. I have conversed, as far as my limited linguistic skills allow, with as many different people as possible under as many different sets of circumstances as I have encountered.
And this week I have realised just how little I ever actually learn about the places, the people and the societies that I have visited.
What has brought me to this realisation? The death of Senator Edward Kennedy.
You may be wondering how these things are connected. It's simply this. I have spent quite a lot of time, comparatively speaking, in the United States. I have visited about half a dozen times. I'm not sure of how many states I've visited but it's around half of them with stays ranging from a couple of hours to a couple of weeks. I have good friends in a couple of them. Add to that the fact that more than half the television programmes and films I watch are American and you might think I'd have a reasonable grasp of things left-pondian. But if you had asked me a week ago if Edward Kennedy was alive or dead I wouldn't have known. Now of course I do know. The various news items about his life and death have raised my awareness of him. The eulogies from the great and the good have surprised me. It's not that I think he doesn't deserve them, it's that I have no idea at all whether he deserves them or not.
Edward Kennedy in my mind is associated with one thing and one thing alone - and it's not hard to guess what that is because it's probably the same for most non-Americans: Chappaquiddick.
Hearing and reading about the life and career of Senator Kennedy has shown me just how little I actually know about the politics of the US. I suppose it might be that I find little of interest in any politics but it has made me wonder.
I have travelled in fifty-five different countries. How many of the leaders - either now or when I was in them - can I name? Precious few. How do the world-views and feelings of the people I have met differ from my own? I can think of individual things but, on a more fundamental level, very little. What are the typical day-to-day lives of those people like when they aren't interacting with tourists? I have visited peoples' homes occasionally but that's no more a real situation than meeting them in hotel bars. People always bring out the best china, or whatever the local equivalent is, when they have guests.
Even in matters of history and geography I have learned little and the little I have learned has come mostly from guide books and atlases. It's not that I'm not interested and it's not that I go around with my eyes and ears closed. I think that it's more that I am focussed on the moment and the series of moments in reality add up to a very limited exposure to the countries.
In future I shall try very hard to get a wider view, I shall redouble my efforts to see the big picture of the countries I visit and not just the isolated trivia that bombard me as I travel. I think, perhaps, a little more effort is required.
Nor have I restricted my conversation to chats with tour guides and shopkeepers. I have conversed, as far as my limited linguistic skills allow, with as many different people as possible under as many different sets of circumstances as I have encountered.
And this week I have realised just how little I ever actually learn about the places, the people and the societies that I have visited.
What has brought me to this realisation? The death of Senator Edward Kennedy.
You may be wondering how these things are connected. It's simply this. I have spent quite a lot of time, comparatively speaking, in the United States. I have visited about half a dozen times. I'm not sure of how many states I've visited but it's around half of them with stays ranging from a couple of hours to a couple of weeks. I have good friends in a couple of them. Add to that the fact that more than half the television programmes and films I watch are American and you might think I'd have a reasonable grasp of things left-pondian. But if you had asked me a week ago if Edward Kennedy was alive or dead I wouldn't have known. Now of course I do know. The various news items about his life and death have raised my awareness of him. The eulogies from the great and the good have surprised me. It's not that I think he doesn't deserve them, it's that I have no idea at all whether he deserves them or not.
Edward Kennedy in my mind is associated with one thing and one thing alone - and it's not hard to guess what that is because it's probably the same for most non-Americans: Chappaquiddick.
Hearing and reading about the life and career of Senator Kennedy has shown me just how little I actually know about the politics of the US. I suppose it might be that I find little of interest in any politics but it has made me wonder.
I have travelled in fifty-five different countries. How many of the leaders - either now or when I was in them - can I name? Precious few. How do the world-views and feelings of the people I have met differ from my own? I can think of individual things but, on a more fundamental level, very little. What are the typical day-to-day lives of those people like when they aren't interacting with tourists? I have visited peoples' homes occasionally but that's no more a real situation than meeting them in hotel bars. People always bring out the best china, or whatever the local equivalent is, when they have guests.
Even in matters of history and geography I have learned little and the little I have learned has come mostly from guide books and atlases. It's not that I'm not interested and it's not that I go around with my eyes and ears closed. I think that it's more that I am focussed on the moment and the series of moments in reality add up to a very limited exposure to the countries.
In future I shall try very hard to get a wider view, I shall redouble my efforts to see the big picture of the countries I visit and not just the isolated trivia that bombard me as I travel. I think, perhaps, a little more effort is required.
1 comment:
I think that it's a good thing to focus on the best of a country/region/state/person. You may know someone for a lifetime (sibling? parent?) and still not know all the little evil things about them . . .or even all the miraculously generous things they've done. I don't want to sound too Pollyanna-ish, but seriously, what is the point in always wanting to know the bad side of things? I think balance is best, but in a pinch, give a person/place the benefit of doubt and assume they're good.
As for Ted Kennedy, being raised in a shockingly conservative Republican family, I was taught to think he was misled (at the least) and evil (at his worst). I'm certain, like all the rest of us, that the truth lies somewhere in between. He had good points and bad points, did good, helpful things and made some horrible, destructive decisions.
Just like all of us.
Good luck with your quest.
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